Back-up childcare plans

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What should I do when my child or my carer is ill?

If your child is at day nursery, you will have to keep her at home if she is sick. This is to prevent her spreading her illness to other children. If one of the carers is unwell a substitute will be provided, so there will always be enough staff.

The challenge is greater if you use a childminder, nanny or relative. If they are ill, there may not be anyone else to step in for them. If your child is ill, they may not care for her if they have other children to look after.

Your back-up plan should be to either find someone else to take care of your child, or to stay at home yourself. Try to have a back-up plan in place before you need it so you're prepared for a change at short notice.

Who could I ask to care for my child in an emergency?

Think about this when you're going about your childcare search. Ask potential carers what their policy is if they or your child is ill.

A day nursery should have plenty of back-up staff to step in if any carers are unwell and can't make it to work.

A childminder, nanny or your nanny's agency may have someone else lined up in case of an emergency. They may have their own networks of other carers who can help. If they know of someone, ask to meet them in advance so that you will feel comfortable to leave your child with them, should the need arise.

If your childminder or nanny doesn't know of anyone, try to track down an alternative yourself by doing the following:

Ask a relative. They may be happy to occasionally pitch in when your child or her carer is unwell.

Set up an arrangement with a friend or neighbour. They may be at home some days and able to look after your child.

If you use a nanny or relative, see if you can sort something out with another local family who has the same arrangement. They could take your child when your nanny or relative is sick if you do the same for them. You could even do this if you don't have a nanny and your friends do, by offering something else in return, such as babysitting.

Find another childminder or nanny yourself. Contact your local childminding network, through the Children Come First childminding network, at www.ncmaccf.org.uk. If you found your nanny through an agency, ask if they have a list of emergency carers.

Would I be able to take time off work to care for my child?

You have the right to take a reasonable amount of time off work if your child is ill or if you have a childcare problem. This is called time off for dependants. However, it's not paid leave, so you may want to prepare some other options, too:

Take some leave from work. It is a good idea to save some of your annual leave for this sort of emergency.

Work from home. If you can stay in contact with your work via phone and email throughout the day, then your employer may be happy for you to do this. When you return to work, talk through with your boss about whether working from home would be a possibility in emergencies.

Take turns with your partner. If it looks like your child could be unwell for a few days, you can take one or two days off each. Or you could split each day. So one of you could go to work early and bring work home at lunchtime, and the other could go to work in the afternoon.

Last reviewed: September 2011

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